Latest Legal News

A retrial is underway for Amanda Knox, the American student who was convicted and later acquitted of murdering her roommate while studying abroad in Italy. This is the fourth trial surrounding the 2007 murder of British student Meredith Kercher, whose body was found with multiple stab wounds in the apartment she shared with Knox. Italian prosecutors have long alleged that Kercher’s death was the result of a sex game gone wrong, and that Knox and her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, …

A federal judge ordered Bank of America to pay nearly $2.2 million for its racially discriminatory hiring practices in a case that has spanned almost 20 years. U.S. Department of Labor Judge Linda S. Chapman levied the fine for back wages and interest for “unfair and inconsistent selection criteria resulting in the rejection of qualified African American applicants” at the bank’s Charlotte headquarters. The unfair hiring practices were first discovered in 1993 during a routine compliance review by the labor …

A private company that got cheap labor by contracting with the state to hire prisoners cannot be sued for discrimination against a disabled worker, according to a ruling by a federal appeals court. The prisoner is not an “employee” of the private company, therefore he does not have the protections under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the court said. The ruling gives an incentive to companies to hire prison labor at below minimum wage without being bound by laws that …

Before you hop on your riding mower to do an errand, be sure to check whether your state considers it a motor vehicle: If it does, you could be ticketed if you’re caught driving it without a license. Catch Me If You Can A man in Canton, Ohio found out the hard way when he was stopped at a checkpoint on Sept. 27 while riding his fancy mower. He was planning to pick up a pizza, he told officers, …

The first health care exchanges created under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act have opened to consumers today despite the shutdown of the U.S. federal government. Congressional Republicans shut off the funding spigot to all non-essential federal services starting today by refusing to pass a spending bill unless President Obama agrees to strip funding to the ACA, which passed in 2010 and is scheduled to go into full implementation in 2014. However, the money for the bill, including tax …

As reported in The New York Times, Facebook faces an Federal Trade Commission inquiry as to whether its latest privacy policies violate its 2011 settlement. The F.T.C.is looking into at whether the social media giant wrongly exposed users’ information in advertising. The controversy centers on the rights of the users’ privacy over their personal information. In addition to the problems with advertising, Facebook privacy lapses occur with users unwittingly sharing private information to the general public. As shown in a …

Abercrombie & Fitch agreed on Sept. 23 to settle two employment discrimination suits with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission based on the clothing retailer’s firing and refusing to hire workers who wore hijabs, or Muslim headscarves. Hijabs in the Crossfire In one case, a federal judge on Sept. 3 had found Abercrombie liable for religious discrimination for firing a Muslim teen, Umme-Hani Khan, from her stockroom position after she refused to remove her hijab, according to the EEOC. …

Amanda Bynes’ lawyer has asked the judge in her DUI case to have her assessed for mental competency, as the actress is still apparently struggling with treatment for her erratic behavior. Not Competent Bynes’ DUI stemmed from an incident in April when she clipped a cop car on a West Hollywood highway. It was one of many charges she faced for erratic driving. In July, she was put on a psychiatric hold in a hospital after she set a …

The ACLU of Maine is suing the state’s largest city for making it a crime to stand in street medians, arguing that the ban infringes on the right to free speech. In July, the city council in Portland, Maine voted unanimously to prohibit people from hanging out in medians after Portland Police Chief Michael Sauschuck testified that panhandlers were creating a safety hazard. Sauschuck told the Maine Sun Journal that “there’s been an absolute explosion” of pedestrians standing in medians …

At a free bike safety class in Golden Gate Park, new cyclists as well as instructors-in-training review skills to help keep them rolling on city streets. “My fears are getting hit by a car, or falling down,” says one student, Caroline. “I’ve never biked in traffic before, really. So that’s why I’m here,” says another student, Ray. Urban biking is on the rise. In San Francisco, cyclists enjoy freshly painted bike lanes, plenty of signage and even bike signal …